Improv
by Lilac Notepad
Summary: Jared Kleinman has to take a drama class to graduate, and he is not happy about it. One day, a girl with some serious acting skills catches his eye, and unlike Romeo and Juliet, they live happily ever after.


{Jared's POV}

I never really liked drama. Well, drama as in theatre, I'm totally into chick fights. But anyways, acting was never my thing. Evan Hansen dragged me to the school play once or twice to see Zoe Murphy, but that was it. (And if he tells you I cried during Into The Woods, that's a lie. I just had something in my eye, okay?!) My point is, when I found out I had to take a drama class, I wasn't exactly happy about it. In fact, I was kind of PO'ed. Thinking back on it now, though, I'm glad I needed those college credits because without that class I never would have met my girlfriend, Y/N.

Usually, I slept through that period. If I'm honest, I just tried to pass the class by doing as little speaking as possible. It did grow on me though, and some of the exercises were actually pretty fun. This one time, we had to recite a monologue from a play. I went on the internet and chose the shortest monologue I could find, but when I presented I stuttered pretty bad and probably failed. And then, there was a moment that I would never forget.

This really pretty girl that I'd never noticed until now stood in the front of the classroom. The longer I looked at her, I remembered her from the school plays. She was always a lead. Vaguely, I recalled her name from some program with the cast list on it. Y/N. I watched as she cracked her knuckles and stared intensely at the class, so intense that I thought she was imagining us in our underwear and it made me nervous. She flipped her H/C braid behind her back and began speaking. It was this one Shakespeare piece that I couldn't quite place. As I watched her talk with swift hand motions and expressed emotion, she seemed so confident. The words seemed to flow out of her mouth, and I could have listened to her talk all day. I thought to myself, 'Wow, she's incredible.' My hands joined the thunderous applause when she finished.

I had approached her after class, mustering up the courage to say, "Hey. Your monologue was amazing."

She smiled at me, "Thanks. I'm Y/N, by the way."

I shook her outstretched hand. "Jared."

"So, you're a Shakespeare fan, huh?"

"Oh sure. I really like that one play, Egglet or something." I said, scrambling to impress her.

"You mean Hamlet," she giggled.

"Yeah, that's what I said."

Ever since that day, I made it a point to sit next to her. We became close, and we talked a lot during class and in the hallway.

{Your POV}

It was a pretty normal day for me. I was just laughing and chatting with Jared on our way to lunch when he suddenly stopped me and got all serious.

"Hey, can we talk about something real quick?"

I twiddled my fingers anxiously, and I don't think I sounded very confident when I said, "Oh. Sure."

"Listen, Y/N, I like you a lot. You're beautiful, funny, smart… I could keep going but I won't. I guess what I'm trying to say is… Do you maybe wanna go out with me sometime?"

I couldn't help but beam at him. "Does Juliet die for Romeo?"

"Uhhhh,"

"Yes. The answer is yes."

On our first date, he took me out to Olive Garden and then we went back to his place. I know what you're thinking, but no, nothing happened. I was honestly shocked by how little he knew about musical theatre. We watched bootlegs and listened to cast recordings of some of the musicals I thought he would like. Now we can bond over Hamilton and obsess about Lin-Manuel Miranda together.

Right now, we were walking through the hallway hand in hand on our way to drama class. We were having a good day until Connor Murphy walked up and started insulting Jared.

"Hey weirdo, you and your girlfriend heading to gay class?" he had said.

"Shut up, Murphy." I let go of Jared's hand and stepped forward.

"Why should I do that?" I rolled my eyes at him.

"Do you know what I do when I'm mad at someone, Connor?" I asked, willing myself to sound menacing, "Well, first, I put on a black jacket and pull the hood up to cover my face. I drive to a library out of town and pull up a browser. Then, I search for crime files on people who have committed murder so I know what mistakes they made to get them caught. I copy that down in a notebook, clear the search history on the computer, and disappear into the night."

"Jesus Christ," he muttered and walked off.

Jared looked at me curiously, "Do you really do all that?"

I burst into a fit of giggles, "No….. I'm just… really good….. at improv."

He laughed along with me and wrapped an arm around my waist. "And this is why I love you."

"Awww, love you too."


End file.
